Terms of Service

The Rat Line exists to encourage constructive discussion, accountability, transparency, and community within private golf.

We are not affiliated with any golf club, management company, membership organization, or governing body unless explicitly stated.

The opinions expressed by users belong solely to those users.

To use The Rat Line you must be at least 18 years old or the age of majority in your jurisdiction.

You must have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms and provide accurate registration information.

You must not have previously been permanently removed from the platform.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account, keeping your password secure, and all activity occurring under your account.

You agree not to create fake accounts for deceptive purposes, impersonate another person, share accounts with others, or circumvent account suspensions.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.

One of the core features of The Rat Line is anonymous participation.

Users may choose to post using their username, post anonymously, or post anonymously with a verification badge when eligible.

When anonymous posting is selected, your public identity is hidden from the community.

However, The Rat Line maintains internal account records for security, moderation, fraud prevention, abuse investigations, and legal compliance. Anonymous does not mean untraceable.

Membership verification is optional and is intended only to increase credibility within the community.

Verification does not guarantee accuracy, endorse a user's statements, or give additional moderation privileges.

The Rat Line may approve, deny, revoke, or request additional information regarding verification at any time.

You retain ownership of content you submit. By posting on The Rat Line you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to display, store, moderate, reproduce, back up, and promote The Rat Line using excerpts of public content.

You represent that your content is truthful to the best of your knowledge, you have the right to post it, and it does not violate another person's rights.

Users may post personal experiences, opinions, suggestions, questions, positive experiences, discussions, and constructive criticism.

Users may not post threats, harassment, hate speech, spam, impersonation, pornographic content, illegal content, malware, private personal information, copyright-infringing material, or unsupported serious allegations about identifiable individuals.

Posts that violate these rules may be removed without notice.

Reports involving another golfer should focus on observable conduct rather than personal attacks.

Examples include dangerous play, harassment, repeated rule violations, and unsportsmanlike conduct.

Users should avoid publishing unnecessary identifying information about other individuals.

The Rat Line reserves the right to edit, hide, review, or remove reports that create unreasonable privacy or legal risks.

Golf clubs may claim their official course page. Verified representatives may publish official announcements, respond to community discussions, update official course information, and mark issues under review or resolved.

Representatives may not delete community posts, edit user posts, reveal anonymous users, or suppress criticism solely because it is unfavorable.

The Rat Line is independently moderated. Moderators may remove content, lock discussions, suspend accounts, permanently ban users, request supporting information, correct factual metadata, and hide content during review.

Moderation decisions are made at our discretion. Where practical, users may appeal moderation decisions.

Users are encouraged to report content that violates these Terms.

Reports are reviewed by moderators. Submitting knowingly false reports may result in account restrictions.

The Rat Line provides a platform for community discussion. We do not independently verify every statement posted by users.

Views expressed by community members do not necessarily reflect those of The Rat Line. Users should exercise independent judgment when evaluating information.

The Rat Line name, branding, graphics, logos, software, and platform design are protected by applicable intellectual property laws.

Users may not copy, reproduce, or redistribute platform content except as permitted by law or with our written permission.

Your use of The Rat Line is also governed by our Privacy Policy. Please review that policy to understand how we collect, use, store, and protect personal information.

We may suspend or terminate accounts for violating these Terms, fraudulent activity, abuse of anonymous posting, repeated policy violations, illegal activity, or conduct that threatens the integrity of the platform.

Users may delete their account at any time, subject to applicable legal obligations and our data-retention practices.

The Rat Line is provided 'as is' and 'as available'. We make no guarantees regarding availability, accuracy of user-generated content, continuous access, or error-free operation.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, whether express or implied.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, The Rat Line and its owners, employees, moderators, contractors, and affiliates will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from the use of the platform.

Nothing in these Terms limits liability where such limitation is prohibited by law.

We may update these Terms periodically. Material changes will be communicated through the platform or by other reasonable means.

Continued use of The Rat Line after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

Questions regarding these Terms may be directed through our Contact Us page or by emailing the support address listed there.